Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc.
Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc. (OHEDI) is an electricity distribution company regulated by the Ontario Energy Board. It is a wholly-owned corporation of Oakville Hydro Corporation.
OHEDI's Board of Directors is responsible for supervising the management of the corporation's business and affairs. These include assuming responsibility for the stewardship of the corporation in areas such as: strategic planning, risk identification and risk management, succession planning, communications policies and integration of the internal control and management information systems.
The Board's nine members are selected to provide OHEDI with a balance of knowledge in OHEDI's operating areas including: business (finance, legal, accounting, marketing), public policy and government relations, board operations, electricity services, risk management, labour relations, environmental issues and occupational health and safety.
Gary Burkett David Brennan Mayor Rob Burton Ray Green Thomas Hierlihy John Mitchell Allister Paterson Mike Russill Pankaj Sardana
Gary Burkett is a senior Human Resources executive with over thirty eight years experience with three blue chip corporations: Molson Breweries, Bell Canada and Federal Express Canada. Gary's HR subject matter expertise is anchored in business acumen with having been President Molson Saskatchewan Breweries together with having served on six commercial Boards and four volunteer Boards.
Gary is presently Managing Director Human Resources with Federal Express Canada and serves on the Oakville Hydro Board and the George Brown College School of Business Advisory Board.
Gary has lived and worked in western, central and eastern Canada and moved to Oakville in 1986. He and his wife have four children.
David Brennan is a proven senior executive with extensive background in legal and general management. As General Counsel or General Manager, he has been successful in combining legal and business knowledge with superior team building skills to generate significant bottom-line contribution and results. David is known as a strategic, pragmatic thinker with deep corporate and commercial acumen and an ability to drive profitable growth and stakeholder satisfaction. He is recognized for strong leadership and the vision to implement long and short term strategies, meeting both current and evolving business needs.
Over the last twenty years, David has held the executive General Counsel position at General Electric Canada and Ontario Power Generation where he led legal teams in excess of 40 people. Under his leadership, these teams have successfully dealt with all legal and compliance matters and completed transactions and projects with values in excess of a billion dollars. As well, during this period, he held General Manager/COO positions at GE Capital Canada and Miller Thomson where he had P&L responsibility including marketing, HR, IT, finance, operations, customer service and collections.
David’s areas of legal expertise include financial services, energy, first nations/metis, infrastructure, employment, and mergers and acquisitions.
In addition to professional development at Harvard and Wharton business schools, David holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. David is also admitted to the Ontario and Alberta Bars.
Mayor Rob Burton represents the shareholder, the Town of Oakville. Mayor Burton brings a wealth of business experience and a perspective as a long time Oakville resident to the Board. He has an M.S. degree from Columbia University.
Ray Green is the Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Oakville. A 30-year veteran with the Town, Mr. Green has held a number of senior positions prior to his role as CAO, including Commissioner of Infrastructure and Transportation Services, Commissioner of Community Services, Director of Public Works and Assistant Director, Operations. Mr.Green is a Professional Engineer with a B.A.Sc., (Civil Engineering), from the University of Toronto.
Thomas G. Hierlihy retired from KPMG LLP after forty years, thirty-one of which were as a Partner. As a Chartered Accountant, he focused on taxation issues in both the business world and as a lecturer. Mr. Hierlihy's community experience includes being the treasurer and a board member of both the United Way and the Community Foundation of Oakville.
John K. Mitchell received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Canada, England and Wales and South Africa.
His work experience includes many years as Senior Vice President Finance and Chief Accountant of Scotiabank and Board member of several of their various operating subsidiaries in Canada, Nassau and Barbados. He remains on the Board of the Scotiabank subsidiary company in Barbados where he was previously Managing Director of their world wide reinsurance operations for several years.
Prior to coming to Canada he was General Manager of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa where he oversaw international capital projects throughout the world. In 2001 he was awarded a fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ontario.
Allister Paterson has over 20 years experience in the transportation industry, 15 years at the executive level. His most recent role was Chairman, President & CEO of Seaway Marine Transportation, the largest Great Lakes freight shipping company.
Allister began his career at Pacific Western Airlines (predecessor to Canadian Airlines) before joining Air New Zealand in senior roles including Acting-CEO in 1998. Prior to joining Seaway Marine Transport, he was the President and CEO of Air Canada Vacations.
Allister has a Bachelors Degree in Science from Arizona State University, and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. He has served on numerous Corporate and Charitable Boards, and currently serves as Chair of both the Oakville Gymnastics Club and Gymnastics Canada. He and his wife Lynn have two children and have been residents of Oakville for 15 years.
Mike Russill joined WWF-Canada as President and CEO in 2004. Under his leadership WWF Canada increased its revenues by nearly 90% and has broadened its conservation reach into Climate Change and Freshwater.
Mike spent thirty-years in the private energy sector, with Shell Canada Inc., Petro-Canada Inc. and Suncor Inc. At Suncor he held several Vice-President assignments; Strategic Integration, Business Services (finance, HR and administration), and Retail.
Mike served as Executive Chairman of Aadco Automotive, an environmentally focused automotive recycling company, and the first to receive Canada's Eco logo.
He has served as a Director on a number of Boards including Nature Conservancy of Canada, CS Able Ltd. USA, Pioneer Petroleum Limited, UPI Petroleum. Mike is past Chairman of the Atlantic Petroleum Association, and the Ontario Region of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute.
He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the School Of Management at Dalhousie University, Green living Enterprises and Sustainable Prosperity. Mike is a frequent speaker on Business and Sustainability.
He graduated from Ryerson in Business Administration and completed the Western Executive Program and the University of Michigan Human Resources Executive Program.
Mike is married to Karen and they have three grown children. His interests include spending time at the family cottage, hiking, kayaking, canoeing and golfing.
Pankaj Sardana has over 27 years of experience in the energy sector with the past 14 years at the executive level, and is currently Vice President, Regulatory Affairs at Ontario Power Generation. Mr. Sardana gained his energy sector experience with The Ontario Ministry of Energy, The Consumers’ Gas Company, Ontario Hydro, the IESO, and Toronto Hydro Corporation. Mr. Sardana has in-depth knowledge of regulatory affairs, treasury operations, wholesale and distribution rate structures and rate design, load forecasting, and conservation and demand management. Mr. Sardana has a Master’s degree in Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
